Suspended sentence for Leeds man who kicked pregnant partner in “drunken rage” at her Rastrick home

Bradford Crown Court

Published:17:53Friday 15 May 2015

Share this article

A 44-year-old Leeds man has avoided an immediate prison sentence for a vicious attack on his pregnant partner at her Rastrick home.

Bradford Crown Court heard today how Jane Roebuck met Stuart McKie through an internet dating site and the couple started living together in October 2013.

But when she became pregnant McKie claimed the baby wasn’t his and started drinking alcohol.

Prosecutor Simon Haring told the court that the assault on Miss Roebuck happened last October afte McKie had been drinking cider and a bottle and a half of brandy.

He said McKie had been in the kitchen playing music loudly and drinking brandy when he grabbed Ms Roebuck by the throat with both hands.

Mr Haring said the complainant, who was by then 27 weeks pregnant, was gasping for breath because McKie had his thumbs pressed into her throat.

After pushing her back into the living room she fell to the floor where McKie began to kick her in the body and legs.

McKie, who had no previous convictions for violence, pleaded guilty to the assault charge on the basis that he had not kicked his then partner in the stomach, but the court heard that he did punch her in the face before again grabbing Miss Roebuck round the throat.

Mr Haring said she was choking and fell to the floor banging her head.

When she managed to get into the living room at her home in Brooke Street she tried to call the police, but McKie ripped the phone line off the wall.

In the early hours of that morning McKie’s irritation with a neighbour’s burglar alarm boiled over and he went round to the property with an axe and smashed a window.

That disturbance led to neighbours contacting the police and when they arrived they found McKie back at the house in Brooke Street.

Mr Haring said the complainant was taken to hospital for maternity checks, but fortunately the baby was unharmed and the court heard that the child had been born earlier this year.

McKie, now of Poplar Mount, Leeds, told police that he was “extremely drunk” and his barrister Ken Green conceded that the assault had been nasty.

Judge David Hatton QC remarked that the offence “passed the custody threshold by a mile” despite McKie’s previous good character, but after hearing that the couple’s relationship had ended following the attack he decided that the jail term could be suspended.

McKie, who also pleaded guilty to a criminal damage charge, was sentenced to a total of 16 months in jail, suspended for two years.

At a previous hearing Judge Hatton made a restraining order which bans him from contacting the complainant and he also ordered McKie to do 150 hours unpaid work for the community.

The judge told McKie that the offences had been committed during “a drunken rage”.

He said the assault was prolonged, unpleasant and vicious and added: “Happily her injuries were not severe, but it was nevertheless a sustained and repeated assault on a woman who, as I have said, was pregnant. The consequences could have been very grave.

“This was an offence brought on by insecurity, jealousy and a vast amount of alcohol.”